R1220A Four Life Resolutions, Pt1

We're now a third of the year through. What is the new resolution you could have even in the month of May?

Let's talk about it. Today on The Encouraging Word with Dr. Don Wilton, well-known author, evangelist, seminary professor, and pastor, we're diving into four life resolutions. We'll be studying from Luke chapter 8 over these next two days, and we believe that as we take these resolutions and apply them to our life, that we can see God grow us into the men and women of God that the Lord wants us to be. As we open the Word together, know that we're open to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell. 866-899-9673 will connect with us anytime. Happy to connect you with a friend to pray with you or connect with resources like the daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide.

It's also online at www.tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Why don't we just pray for a minute together? Would you bow your heads with me? I feel very much in my heart today that there are a number of people who need to draw a line in the soul of the sand where you are today and make a resolution that today is going to be the first day of the rest of your life. Lord, there are a lot of people who find themselves with a lot of things and issues.

I would have no idea necessarily unless someone had told me personally. But you know, you know every heart in this place. And Lord, we're born into this life and we live this life and while we live this life we accumulate baggage. And you give us so many times when your Word lands squarely in our hearts and you put it there and your Word is truth.

And that old devil wants to just come and snatch it away. How many times Lord do we not find ourselves in church or listening to your Word or reading your Word and while we hear and listen we have this well up within us, this desire to do what your Word tells us to do but before we can count to five it's gone. Lord, there's a bunch of people here today, a lot of wonderful people and they're listening to your Word. We are, I am, just because I'm speaking doesn't mean to say I'm not listening. Your Word is just as important to me as anybody.

Your Word is life and unless I'm willing, unless we're willing to draw a line in the sand just as quickly as that Word comes to us it's gone. And all we have to do is walk out the doors of this church back onto the streets of our world and we are immediately swallowed up. We're distracted, we're taken off track, we're thinking about lunch and then we see all the problems that we deal with and the decisions that we have to make and before we know it that Word has left our hearts and we're back to square one and there's some people here today Lord that are just on a merry-go-round.

They just go back to the same thing over and over, never seem to get over it, never seem to recover, never seem to get on, never seem to improve and today can be the first day of the rest of our lives. So Lord Jesus please speak to us all, every one of us in this place today speak to us powerfully and deliberately, call us out and may Your Word take root in our hearts, not only here in the sanctuary but in that beautiful Genesis service right now filled with people, wonderful people. Lord you do your work, this is your time, we're listening, you're calling us out and we're ready, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

I'm praying for you right now, I might look like I'm looking at you and speaking but I'm praying for you, I'm not going to stop, I've been praying for you a lot and I'm praying for you right now because God is speaking, God's on His throne, I'm putting God's Word on you, we can do a lot of things you know, we can build high schools and stadiums and do all good things, a lot of great things for people but when you invest in them one person at a time and you can see the return on that investment and how much we celebrate with what God has done in so many lives and how grateful we can be. I've received so many questions and we're trying to look at real issues and there were four questions that I received that spoke so clearly to a day like this and spoke so clearly in my heart and to your heart. I want to read to you these four questions as they were presented to me. Number one, remember these were questions that we would ask of God and we would ask God to answer these questions, these are real issues. Number one, what must I do to turn things around? Someone sent me that question, what must I do to turn things around? Maybe that's your question today, that's what I was praying about a minute ago, are you willing to draw the line in the sand?

Do you want to turn things around? Number two, how can I live right? Someone wrote this question to me, said you know pastor if I could ask God this question, what would he say?

How can I live right? Here's the third one, if I could start over, what would you say? I feel this was addressed to God, if I could start over, all right, so I want everybody here to ask that question. If you could start all over, all right, I just want you to go all the way back to when you were a child and you could start all over, what would you do differently? What would you not do? What do you wish that you'd never done?

You could start all over again. Here's a fourth question, what should I tell my son about life? I got this question what two and a half months ago, what should I, a parent wrote and said, what should I tell my son about life? Now I'd like to look at that person and say to them, what do you think you should tell your son? How have you lived your life out in front of your son?

What life have you shown your son or your daughter? So when we look at these questions, God has written something on my heart that I want to put in front of you today and I'm going to ask you to get your Bibles and go to Luke chapter 8. Now this is a powerful passage and Luke chapter 8. Now I'm actually going to read to you from verse 4.

I want to begin at verse 4 of Luke chapter 8 because Jesus spoke about something here that applies to all people. Now I just want to put this down on the table here because Jesus is speaking about the sower and the seed. We know the story, many of us, this great story that Jesus himself shared with us about a farmer that goes out into a field and he sows seed and what happens to that seed and in fact we're going to read from verse 11 that Jesus tells us that the seed is the word of God, it's truth. What is God's word? God's word is truth. People want to know truth. It's truth that sets you free. So this is God saying my word truth is being presented, is being thrown out before you, is being given to you and this is what Jesus said and I'm going to stop a number of times. Verse 4, and when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed and as he sowed some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot and the birds of the air devoured it.

So watch this. There's a whole number of us in this place. It's not about the fact that truth that you don't know and you are not being presented with truth. The issue here is that there's a whole lot of us here today that that truth is just simply being trampled on and birds are flying all around us and they are just pecking truth away from us. They're just stealing it.

Verse 6, and some fell on the rock and as it grew up it withered away because it had no moisture. What did you do since last Sunday? Where have you been? What have you watched? What have you been saying? What have you put into your body?

Who have you been hanging around with? Here's what God says. It's not that the word truth has not been given to you. It's that there's so many rocks in your life. That word, that truth, that ability to be able to live is just being choked up.

You got no moisture. Since last Sunday, if you really rank honest before the Lord, how much time have you given to moisten God's word, truth? All right, we go on here. Verse 7, some of this word fell among thorns and thorns grew up and choked it. So Jesus here is telling us that there's a whole lot of us that we just simply surrounded by thorns. So whose company are you keeping? You hang around with bad company, you'll become bad company. Stop playing this game with God.

Friends listen, please listen to me. Some of you are trying jolly hard to live for the Lord, but you're messing with God. And during your life, all you are is just surrounded by a bunch of thorns.

Now I'm going to talk about that in just a minute. And then of course there was the fourth category, verse 8, some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. So look at verse 11. This is Jesus explaining this. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.

The ones along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's teaching from Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment.

But that concept of the reality that sometimes those seeds are stolen before they take root and allow us to grow into the Christians we need to be is something we want to pray against. Is there somebody that you want us to pray for right now? We're connecting at 866-899-WORD and would love to pray with you and for you and for them.

That's 866-899-9673. And we're also connecting on our website, www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're there you'll see a number of ways to watch and listen to these messages from Dr. Don Wilton, including YouTube. Did you know the Encouraging Word has a YouTube channel? On this channel you can watch over 100 of Dr. Wilton's sermons. You can also listen to the weekly Words of Encouragement, a devotional series written by Dr. Wilton. Visit us on our YouTube channel today. Sharing the love of Christ, whether it be on YouTube, on our website, or on the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide, it's one of the most powerful tools we offer. It's absolutely free and you can sign up on our website right now at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Sign up today. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. There are some here today, you've been listening to this Word. That Word has been put into your heart, but you're not saved. Now you could probably do like I did for many years and quote every verse in the Scripture. Listen, I'm a preacher's kid. I grew up sitting under that. I used to go on youth camps. Did you know that? I used to go on youth camps.

Now I got sent home at a few of them, but I mean I survived some of them. God's Word, here's what Jesus is saying. This is what he says here in verse 11. He says, Now the parable is that the seed is the Word of God and the ones along the path are those who have heard.

Anyone here hearing this? Nod if you're hearing. That's you.

That's me. Have heard and the devil comes and he takes away the Word from their hearts so they may not believe and be saved. Verse 13, the ones on the rock are those who when they hear the Word receive it with joy.

Now I want you to apply an acid test to your heart. When you hear God speaking, can you feel it? It's like, oh wow, I can do this. There is life. You mean I can be forgiven? You mean there is joy in life? It means I can start all over again. You mean my life's not over?

You mean he will forgive me? You receive it with joy. Watch this. I mean Jesus says, he says receive it with joy, but these have no root.

They believe for a while and in time of testing it's proven that they didn't receive it. They fall away. It's kind of like a resolution. I'm full of resolutions. How many times I turn over a new leaf, make a resolution, but it doesn't last. Then he gets on to verse 14. He says, and as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear the Word, but as they go their way they become choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and their fruit never matures. It just remains stagnant. Growth is so important.

Let me ask you something. Spiritually speaking, are you the same person today that you were 10 years ago? If you are, Jesus is saying you've just been choked up with all the worries of this world. It's time for you to let go and it's time for you to start growing up spiritually. It's time for you to stop acting in a childlike manner. You don't need to be a big baby anymore. Stop your squawking. You don't need to wear a diaper anymore.

Did you know that? That's what Jesus was saying. This is gold in my opinion because he's addressing the reality of our life. Then of course in the fourth instance and I love verse 15, as for that word, that seed which fell in the good soil, these are those who hearing the Word hold it fast in an honest and good heart and consequently bear fruit with patience.

These are the fruit bearers. You know it's those days and months that go on and you really actually feel like you mean something, that you're contributing, that you are part of, that you've got a reason to live and a purpose and you know who God is and you love people because of a genuineness in your heart. So I want to speak to you about four life resolutions and excuse the pun. This is a deliberate pun. Four life resolutions.

These are resolutions for life. There are four of them that Jesus tells us about. On the beaches of southern Africa, there are many, many warnings posted. Now great whites are big fish. They're a little bigger than the average catfish and great whites don't even say grace at breakfast. If they see you, they swallow you whole. They are big fellas. In fact, a couple of years ago in a place called Fishek, just recently a lady was swimming in Fishek off the Cape of Good Hope and people standing on the shore saw a great white come up behind her and took her with one bite, just swallowed her.

Great whites would be, I mean you can't imagine how big they are. They are mean, awfully frightening fish. And along the coast of southern Africa and Australia where the home of the great whites is, they have offshore nets and they have zones where bathers are restricted and they tell you, listen swim. If you're going to go surfing or swimming, you swim between that point over there and that point over there and if you do, I promise you, you're fine.

They don't have any shark attacks but the people who get eaten, who lose their legs and who get maimed by sharks mostly are people who ignore the warning signs. That's exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying, listen, the word of God is truth. My word will set you free. I am Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth and the life. When you put your faith and trust in me, I'm the only one who can forgive you and make your life brand new. I'm the only one who can do for you what you cannot do for yourself and I will give you life with a capital L. I'll give you the greatest life because it's life in Christ and here are the warning signs and in order to take note of the warning signs, Jesus himself gives us these resolutions that we must make.

I just want to give them to you. Number one, bind God's word in your heart today. Now if you look at what he tells us about the first group, he tells us about this first group of people are a people who receive the word of God in their hearts. Jesus even said, listen, this word goes into your heart. Wind to your heart. What he's saying is that when Jesus Christ reveals himself to you by his spirit, there are many, many people who receive that word, that seed falls into your heart, but unless you are willing to bind that word in your heart, the birds are going to come and they're going to peck it out of your heart and take it away from you.

Some of you are being pecked to death. It's what Jesus was talking about. He was speaking about a shallow initial receiving of God's word. He wasn't criticizing that.

He was saying it's not good enough. Just that you sit and listen and say, yep, that's right. Oh man, I know God.

Yes, I'm going to do that. What he's saying is you've got to actually take hold of God's word and do what he instructs us to do and you've got to believe with all your heart that God is who he says he is and you've got to be willing to take him at his word. Such powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton today. We're just getting started on these four resolutions, but this concept of being able to take God at his word is absolutely empowering to see God change us from the inside out. You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been teaching and preaching from the pulpit. Now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repented my sin. I confess my sin to you and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. If you prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus Christ or rededicate your life to Christ, we want to walk alongside you, encourage you, pray for you and give you some free resources Dr. Wilton has prepared just for you. Please call us at 866-899-WORD so we can send out your information today.

That's 866-899-9673. Remarkable free resources that will help you grow in your faith on a daily basis. You can also meet us on our website as well at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, while you're there at www.tewonline.org, you'll see a powerful resource about battling loneliness.

Again, it's on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. Before you get away, we have some closing thoughts from Dr. Don Wilton. You know, before we go today, what a day of worship we've had. You know, you and I have in the middle of our hearts our beloved nation, don't we? How much I love America. I'm so proud to be an American. You know, this broadcast is seen by so many of our armed forces across the world and we hear from many, many of them.

We love them, we admire them, we respect them. They are our real heroes and I want you to join with me as we are praying for them that God would protect them and their families and loved ones. Let's do that right now, shall we? Just before we go, why don't you join with me? Lord Jesus, I'm joining with thousands of people right now and praying for our members, our brave, brave members of our community and our world who are in uniform.

Many are overseas in strange and difficult places, families left behind. Lord Jesus, bless them, and keep your hand upon them in every way. In Jesus' name, Amen. Our time's gone for today, but tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off today in these four resolutions of how God can change our life from the inside out. We'll be going back to Luke Chapter 8. If you want to take a look back, if perhaps you didn't hear all of today's message or you want to look ahead to what's going to happen tomorrow, you can do so on our website at www.tewonline.org. At the very top banner, you'll see a number of opportunities that Discover will let you discover everything from watching. If you want to watch the messages or listen to them or sign up for the podcast, it's all there at www.tewonline.org. Till next time, take care and God bless.